Getting through the Lion's Den
by reishilovesyaoi
Summary: “What if—when Horatio pulled his death stage he asked Ryan Wolfe to do something more than make sure his assumingly dead body was gone before the team gets there?” Read and Review please -On temp hiatus-
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI Miami, I'm just using them so please don't sue me.

**Rating**: T

**Show**: CSI Miami

**A/N:** This is a "what if?" fic. Written for my pal who gave the "What if" question.

"What if—when Horatio pulled his death stage he asked Ryan Wolfe to do something more than make sure his assumingly dead body was gone before the team gets there?"

a bit drabble, still working on a plot.

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Inside the A/V lab, Eric Delko and Calleigh Duquesne waited as the phone rang, hopefully finding out the truth about who shot Horatio Caine.

After a while, someone answered from the other side.

"This is Wolfe" the voice from the other line said, belonging to none other than their very own Ryan Wolfe.

The two CSIs were struck by this development. Outside their lab, they could see Ryan on his phone, seemingly surprised as well. There was no mistaking it.

Unable to control himself, Eric stormed to Wolfe and grabbed him by his collar "Now I get it" he growled harshly, his voice quivering in anger "How you got to the scene so fast, why Horatio's body was gone already and now missing, you're behind all this!"

Ryan Wolfe stood there, stunned. But he tried to keep his composure as he tried to look angry "What the hell are you saying Delko?!" he snapped at the cuban russian. His green eyes meeting with the man's own orbs.

"Save it Ryan" now Calleigh dashed out of the lab and came forward, her voice forcing to be calm. "We know you had something to do with Horatio's death, now it's either you tell us or we just have to ask for a warrant and we can all do this the hard way." he could tell from her expression that she was not kidding.

Ryan stared at his two companions, he hated having to lie to them, but at this point he had no choice, not when the success of this mission depends on people believing horatio had really died. He braced himself, knowing this was not going to be easy.

"Yeah?" he returned to them, hard-faced "Got nothing to prove that except for the phone records don't you?" he forced himself a rather sly smile "That's circumstantial evidence, got to work better than that"

Eric cursed loudly and shove him into a hard wall, making him wince in pain. "Damn it Wolfe! What the hell did you do!" the man said, making no attempts to lower down his voice.

With the wind knocked off him Ryan tried to keep his face straight as he pushed Eric away as hard as he could "Let go of me! Let go of me Delko! Before I charge you with assault!" he spat.

Eric then let go of him "this isn't funny Wolfe!" for the first time he saw pleading in the man's eyes, something he didn't expect to see, especially not from Eric right now. "Did…Did you kill Horatio?" he choked on these words, clearly he didn't want to believe what the evidence was telling them.

Ryan stared at them…his gut burning with guilt. _Oh God, I'm sorry guys, I can't tell you_… he kept a hard face, not allowing them to break down the mask that he put on himself. "If you think that way you'll have to prove it, if you want to search me get your warrant." he said coldly.

"Damn it!" Eric said loudly "What are you playing at Wolfe!"

"Nothing" he replied, wondering how far he was going to do this before he could tell them what was going on, they'll probably kill him for lying, Eric was going to beat him so bad he won't be able to go to work the next day, Calleigh with permission was going to place a bullet in him somewhere without a doubt. "I am perfectly serious Delko" he said.

Eric glared, can't think of anything to say to him, Calleigh looked at them, also lost in words, when she was able to regain her composure, she whispered "R-Ryan…"

There was no going back, the brunette knew, he was given this task, and he was going to stick with it till the end. He had to tear his eyes away from Calleigh's eyes filled with tears and Eric's anger filled face, he took an imaginary deep breath, shrugged and keep his face firm "If you guys don't have anything else to say, I'll be going… find me when you get better evidence or that warrant." with that he walked away. Forcing himself not to take another glance at them, or it else he was going to break.

"Get back here Wolfe!" Eric shouted ready to give him a punch or so, but Calleigh restrained him "Damn it! Get back here and face me like a man! Wolfe!"

"Eric…stop" Calleigh sobbed, wrapping her arms around the man's waist "Please…"

The people were starting to stare at the scene created by the three, looking curious as to what happened. Still breathing heavily, Eric forced himself to calm down, he hugged Calleigh who was crying, cursing Ryan under his breath.

He sighed, first Horatio was gone, now Ryan was acting this way, Eric really didn't know what to think, but he knew there was something going on. He shook his head "Calleigh?" he said softly. "Were going to find what the hell is going on, alright?" he told her. "Were not going to stop until we get to the bottom of this…"

She nodded gently. "Ryan…I don't know why he acted like that. You think he really had something to do with Horatio's death? Did he really kill Horatio?" she asked, disbelievingly.

"I don't know Calleigh, but I'm going to find out…" he said, determinedly. Staring after Ryan… in utter disbelief of what just happened. _Wolfe, what the hell is going on? _He thought.

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After making sure that nobody was able to follow him Ryan Wolfe stepped out of the hummer which he parked several kilometres away from where he was going. Careful not to put any mud on the tires of the silver vehicle, he didn't want to make it look like he was trying to do something suspicious as he just became a suspect in Horatio Caine's murder. After a while he saw the old house where he was supposed to go to, without a second thought he went in.

It was dark and gloomy inside the house, not liking the silence that looms around he drew out his gun as he looked around the empty house, "H?" he called out tentatively "H, are you here?"

A voice answered from behind him "Right here, Mr. Wolfe" Horatio Caine came to greet him, wearing his clothes from when he was supposedly shot. He could see the dried blood on them.

Relief washed across Ryan's face "don't sneak up on me like that…" he said weakly, then stared at his boss seriously "No problem then?"

"No" the redhead said slowly "what about the team?"

Ryan shrugged "Taking it hard, everyone is set out to kill whoever killed you H " he let out a small laugh. "Unfortunately Eric and Calleigh found out about the text message…"

Horatio looked at him, waiting to tell him what happened, so he did.

"I told them to find a concrete lead…I'll be their prime suspect for a while, but I can handle that" he said, putting up a I-don't-care face.

But the lieutenant knew that it was hard on his youngest CSI, especially since the boy treated the team his family. He admired the boy's loyalty to his given task. He shook his head "Mr. Wolfe, I know this isn't easy for you---"

"It's okay H, I know what I'll be dealing with when you asked for my help" he said before Horatio could even finish his sentence. "I can deal with it"

The man stared at him tentatively, but knowing that Ryan was the only man he could trust right now he nodded "I know you can Mr. Wolfe…" he gave him a rare smile. "I believe you."

"So, uhm… You know how to get the fused alloy rounds out of the circulation?" Ryan asked.

Horatio nodded "I asked Yelina's help with this, and if this goes well, the fused alloy rounds will be out of the circulation for good"

"So it's safe to say that Horatio Caine will be resurrecting soon?"

"Soon enough" the man said "But before that, there are still things to be taken care of and I wanted to ask if you could continue to help me, Mr. Wolfe…"

_More help?_ Ryan frowned. _Looks like this thing is not yet over_. "Yeah, sure… what can I do?" he asked, hiding the surprise in his expression.

Ryan's eyes widened when he heard what Caine was planning to do. It was crazy, but crazy enough to work, he nodded "I...I see where you're going with this…fine with me, let's do it."

"The question is…are you up for the challenge Mr. Wolfe?"

"Are you kidding?" he said incredulously. "Of course I'll do it."

"You are aware of the danger that this mission brings?" the redhead asked, looking at his youngest agent seriously. What he was asking Ryan to do wasn't a joke, he would be walking straight into a lion's den, where he would be on his own, him and the team would be nowhere near to save him.

"I can handle it, if you trust me…"

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Ron was just about to pour his cold drink to a glass, he was just thinking of a good way how to get Horatio Caine out of his life for good, stealing his ex-girlfriend and son wasn't enough of a threat for him…he was thinking maybe he should kill one to send a message of what he was capable of when a informant came to him bringing urgent news.

"What is it? If it's not good news you know better than to disturb me---" he began.

"It is good news sir, yes" the man replied "I bring you news that would make you happy. Horatio Caine is dead"

"Caine dead are you kidding me?" Ron Saris laughed at the news he just received, it sounded too good to be true.

"It's true" his informant said "Caine is dead. I saw it with my own two eyes"

Saris stood stunned, "who killed him?" he asked.

"It was a CSI named Ryan Wolfe. At least, that's what the so-called evidence says"

"A CSI?" Ron laughed again, news was getting better and better by the minute "So one of his own killed him? I'd love to see the look on Caine's face when he died…"

He turned to his informant once more, now interested "Where is the CSI now?"

The man shrugged "No news, should I look for him?"

"Yes, bring him to me…I'd love to chat with Mr. Wolfe…" Ron said, bringing his hands together.

His men nodded and walked away as Ron poured more champagne to his glass, grinning to himself. Life keeps getting better and better, now that Caine was gone, no one was going to stop him, not even his own CSIs.

**-tbc?-**

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is that too weird? It was kind of hard making this up as I stared at the monitor. But if you guys want it I think I can squeeze in updates when I can, just tell me, okay?

Read and review if you want to know what happens next!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI Miami, nor any of them cast, I'm just using them for a fic.

**Rating**: T

**Show**: CSI Miami

**A/N:** Wow, I wasn't expecting that many reviews when I put up the fic, but thanks guys! so first things first, since this takes place in the middle of season 7 episode 1, the things that happened after Eric and Calleigh learned of Ryan's involvement is pretty much shaken up a bit to fit this plot (if there is one, still working on that and any suggestions would be great just about now).

I borrowed Ron and Yelina's conversation here too, with a bit of small alterations but still the same one.

**Note:** I am not sure what the proper spelling for ATF Kevin Callwell is, so I made up something that would sound like it. Really Sorry to the fans of the guy.

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**CHAPTER 2**

After the confrontation between the three CSIs early in the morning, the rest of the day has been rather uneventful. The evidence linking Kevin Callwell and Ryan Wolfe was too vague and even a student studying law could tell them that the evidence was circumstantial and would not convict the two responsible for Horatio's death.

_Something's just not right_. Calleigh sighed as she went over the crime scene photos for about the fifth time. But no matter how hard she looked at it, the evidence could only tell her that someone did shoot Horatio from where the bandage was found, and DNA confirmed that the blood on it belonged to ATF agent Kevin Callwell, only confirming their suspicions that the two were involve with Horatio's murder. She didn't want to believe it, but evidence never lies.

The day was about to end when Eric Delko came up to her, bringing rather disappointing news "I got a warrant for Callwell's Rifle , test reveal that the weapon wasn't used recently, and it was eliminated as the murder weapon" he reported.

"Great, that means we're back to square one of everything…" she put her palms under her chin, thinking.

"Maybe he used another rifle, I mean, being an ATF agent, surely he's got more guns than what he's showing us…"

She considered the thought for a minute "That could be, but how are we going to find where it is? Another warrant to search his place?"

"Works for me" he shrugged.

Eric looked around through the glass walls of the lab "Hey, Is Wolfe back yet?"

"No, I haven't seen him…why?"

Eric sighed "He's got to know something behind all this Calleigh, you saw his reaction. He's definitely guilty of something."

"That's what we think, but unfortunately he doesn't want to talk about it, and unless we can prove him part of all of this I'm thinking he'll be keeping his mouth shut." She sighed as she stared at the phone records she had just been reviewing, the only connection between the ATF agent and the CSI was a single phone message, telling a lot but still not enough.

"Damn it" Eric cursed. "I should've punched him when I had the chance" he muttered under his breath.

"You'll get your chance when this is all over, that is, if Ryan really had something to do with Horatio's death." She said.

For a while, the Cuban Russian was quiet, then he dropped his voice to a tone only Calleigh could hear "I just can't believe this, of all people, why did it have to be them?" he said. "Why one of us?"

She couldn't respond, halfly because she had been asking herself the same thing, Horatio was a good man, even gave Ryan a chance to get his job back, and this was his idea of saying thank you? Something was definitely wrong. She kept telling herself there had to be reason behind all this.

And whatever that reason was, she was going to find out.

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Yelina stood waiting as she saw the White car belonging to Ron Saris speed up to their rendezvous location, she kept a straight face, knowing how much this mission meant.

Ron stepped out of the car, she could see he was alone, at least that was somehow a relief on her part.

"Mr. Saris" she began, as ready as she ever will be.

"Well, I have to admit, when I talked to you on them phone, I didn't expect that you were this…lovely" was the man's first gesture, with a grin on his face.

"Mr. Saris, did you come prepared to do business?" she said flatly, if there was one thing she learned in this business, it was never take anything as a joke.

Ron snickered, like a professional man he wasn't going to do anything without any idea who he's dealing with. "Depends on who you are" he said. Eyeing her directly.

Yelina shook her head and smiled "I believe what's more important is, who I represent" she lifted the suitcase given by Horatio hours earlier as a part of the plan.

"I'm listening"

"I have a client who wishes to purchase a large amount of the fused alloy rounds"

"And…who is this client?" seems like the man's attention was on her now.

She smiled "Whoever he may be" she said with an air of mystery. She placed the white case in front of the man "His money is American"

Ron nodded as if thinking about it "And how many of these, supposed rounds are you gonna buy?"

"All of Ortega's supply" she answered without a hint of hesitation. "Word is, you have possession of them"

All of a sudden he pulled out a gun out of his belt and pointed it at her neck "What you think I'm that stupid? Who are you?" they stared at each other eye to eye "Really" he said firmly, pressing the gun closer to her neck. "Who sent you here?"

Yelina did not panic, she stared at Ron in the eyes and continued on "I represent the group of Military interest" she let the man sink in her words "and I'm authorized to pay you any price"

That must've been the magic words as Ron removed the gun from her neck instantly "Okay…" he put the gun back inside his coat. "But that's going to be a bit of a problem…the rounds are sold to gangs all over Miami"

She expected him to say that "Ah, There is no need, Then I'll approach these entities on my own, Thank you" she smiled at Saris, knowing what he was going to say next.

"Entities?" Ron repeated, taking it as humour "They're crypt kings, the roads gang, they will strip that money off you and everything else."

Yelina smiled, men who are hungry for money can only be so easy to predict. "So let me guess, You'll buy back the bullets and sell them to me at double the prize"

"Goodness, I'm just trying to protect you…" Ron reached for the suitcase and Yelina grabbed it.

"Sure you are" she said "You get those bullets back, and I promise you…" she opened the case for him to see "I'll make you a very wealthy man…"

Ron stared at the money inside the case, she could Triumph and greediness in his eyes. "That's just a down payment" she closed the case.

He grinned and stared at the case hungrily "Okay," then looked back at her "How am I going to get in touch with you?"

With a playful smile on her face Yelina went closer to pull his phone out of the inner pocket of his coat "When you get those rounds, you text this number, we'll talk then".

"I keep a boat down at the Marina. Okay? That's where I'm going to be" he said, indicating the end of the conversation. With that, Ron went back to his car with the suitcase while Yelina watched him for a while, when the man's back was turned she walked over to her car as well, knowing she has done the first part successfully.

"Horatio, now it's time to watch them do what they do" she whispered, knowing that she may not see him, but Horatio was there watching over her.

And she was right.

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"Frank! What happened?" Calleigh exclaimed when she entered the Miami Dade Hospital Emergency room, she and Eric rushed to the detective as he was being given first aid kit, the side of his head was bloodied, showing where he was hit. Eric was just right behind her. The Two rushed here after they heard that Frank was brought in.

Frank let out a soft moan as he stared at the two "Never mind me, you have to find Ortega" he said, eyes still unfocused.

"Ortega? Manny Ortega? What do you mean Frank?" Eric casted a look at Calleigh.

"The bastard escaped" he informed them "He got a petition to attend his brother's funeral so I was one of his escorts, when we where halfway to the cemetery his men suddenly came towards our car from all direction, tried to fight back but there were too many." He stopped as the doctor put the last piece of bandage firmly in place, he cleared his throat "Most of my men ended up dead" he shook his head disbelievingly.

Calleigh knew how bad Frank felt, she hugged him tightly and patted him on the back. "Don't worry frank, We'll find Ortega" she promised him.

"Yeah, for now you rest Big guy" Eric said sitting on opposite side of Calleigh "We have a big day waiting for us tomorrow"

"You guys found out who shot Horatio yet?" Tripp asked softly. The two CSIs exchanged looks.

"Uhm…not yet, but were running a potential lead, don't worry Frank, we'll get them, all of them" she whispered meaningfully.

"They're a lot closer to home too" the Cuban Russian whispered, barely audible.

"Well, at least there's another more suspect in Horatio's murder that out there somewhere…" the blonde girl said.

"How could Ortega kill Horatio if he's in prison?"

She stared at him "He may be in prison but doesn't mean he's powerless, remember the guy who took a picture of Horatio lying on the ground? Wanting credit for his death?"

Eric slowly realized "Diaz may be one of Ortega's men…he was the original shooter!" he realized. "But when he got there somebody beat him to his job and he took the picture as proof that the job is still done."

"But that still doesn't give us who the real shooter is." Calleigh said slowly.

Frank groaned as he shifted in his bed, the doctor gave him an order of spending the night in the hospital, just to make sure his head trauma wasn't serious and there would be no permanent damage. Eric and Calleigh knew it was time for them to let the man rest.

"Anyway, we'll continue to look for Horatio's shooter and Ortega. We'll call you if something comes up okay?" Calleigh said kindly, giving his head a motherly stroke. "You rest, alright Frank?"

"Alright" the man said, opening his eye to look at them he gave a weak smile "Go get 'em guys"

She smiled as she and Eric watched frank close his eyes to sleep, this wasn't exactly the best way to end the day, with more questions than answers. She could only hope the next day will be better than this one.

_Horatio…_

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"So I guess that takes care of the rounds that Ortega sold across Miami…" Yelina said, staring at Caine across the table, it was later that evening and she was meeting with the redhead somewhere in Miami "But what about the one's left with Ortega?"

"That will need to be destroyed as well…"Caine answered "But I don't want you to worry about that…the one you should keep in mind is Ron…keep an eye on him, tell me if he starts his move"

Yelina stared at him, she trusted that Caine had everything under control "I understand…I'll contact you as soon as I find something…" she gave a nod to the two persons in front of her before she left.

"And Yelina?" she looked back one more time "Be careful." She smiled and disappeared from view.

Ryan Wolfe stared at her as she went out of the door too, when her car was out of earshot he turned to Horatio "So, I'm guessing it's my turn?" he said casually, with a small smile on his lips.

"Mr. Wolfe, you know what I'm asking you to do, if you are ready---if you're prepared---"

Ryan stared at his boss, knowing that the man was giving him a chance to consider his option one last time but his mind was already set, he nodded decidedly "I am"

"Very well then" Horatio answered "Good luck"

"On with the plan?" he verified, one last time.

"On with the plan"

**-TBC?-**

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There! Finally done! What do you guys think? Still hard making things up while staring in the monitor, I was typing and retyping for about two hours before I had this chapter done! But what do you think? If another idea bursts inside my mind I'll be sure to write to another update alright? And I'll be waiting for those ideas from you guys.

But if you want me to update read and review me!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** CSI Miami belongs to all them producers, much as I want to own them that isn't possible unless they adopt me or something.

**Rating**: T

**Show**: CSI Miami

**A/N:** Hey guys, here's that update I promised, and thank you for all those reviews, don't hesitate to review me more, I love reading what you guys have to say.

Oh yeah, I borrowed more scene from the episode. XD

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**CHAPTER THREE**

The next day Eric Delko came up to work early hoping to get an early start with what should be done. He expected that he would be the first one to arrive but was surprised when he saw Natalia already in and checking on something.

"Hey, Natalia…" he greeted, "You're early…"

"Hey," she said, smiling "Yeah, well, I really couldn't rest anyway so I figured working would be a better use of my time…"

He knew how she felt, because he was feeling the same thing. "Any update?"

"You know what I don't get?" She said with a frown, shaking her head. "Why is Horatio's body missing? I mean, he's dead. Why would anyone take interest in that?"

Eric wished he knew the answer, but he didn't. "I don't know, maybe they're thinking it's some kind of trophy?" he felt disgusted with that idea, but knew it wasn't that far off from reality, after all, there had been more weird things they have been through.

Natalia shuddered at the thought "Who would want to keep Horatio's body?" she shook her head.

Once gain he did not know the answer, he hung his head "There are a lot of things that doesn't make sense lately…" he said with a sigh.

"Still, that doesn't mean we give up do we?" the two turned to see Calleigh standing by, having just arrived and heard everything they said.

Eric grinned and Natalia nodded in agreement "No it doesn't."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're guys are having fun…" another voice said not far from them. All three looked to see Ryan Wolfe leaning against the wall, cross-armed with an odd smirk on his face.

The mere sight of him was enough to make Eric's blood boil in anger "What the hell are you doing here, Wolfe?" he growled.

The smirk on the brunette's face didn't falter as he took Eric's words as a joke "In case you've forgotten Delko, I work here" he said.

Eric scowled, clenching his fist. He would love nothing more than to punch the man right now, just to give him what he had coming, but he chose to restrain himself.

Giving off a laugh he stared at the man "What's the matter Eric? Suddenly don't have the guts to punch me? You were so eager to do it just yesterday…" he taunted.

"What the hell is you're problem Wolfe?" he spat.

"Does it look like I have a problem?" he looked at them "I was merely commenting that you guys seemed to be having fun…"

"Yeah, if we have, what's it to you?"

Ryan shrugged "Oh nothing…on contrary, do continue…" his eyes glittered strangely as he said that, with that he walked away casually, as though nothing happened.

Eric casted him a deadly glare on the back "Damn…I'm really starting to hate that guy…" he shook his head.

Natalia looked worried "That was so unlike Ryan…his face was so…hard." She sighed. "That was so unlike him, I wonder why…"

"You're actually worried about him?"

"Well" she said defensively "it's just that he's been acting a bit odd lately"

"Yeah, well if you ask me he's already gone to the bad side" The cuban russian said flatly "I still think he's involve in all of this."

"Eric" Calleigh said warningly "There is no concrete proof that Ryan was involved in the death of Horatio"

"What more proof do we need? Callwell send him that message Calleigh, now there's just so many things that 'it's done' means does it? Especially since it came at the exactly the time of Horatio's death?! I don't believe that's just coincidence" this was going out of Eric's mouth so quickly he had little time to dawn on what he said, but hell he didn't care, he had been meaning to yell this yesterday but didn't get the chance.

The blonde shook her head "I understand how you feel Eric, but a trial won't be held until we get proper evidence. Besides, we have that casing, we're not hopeless in this case just yet…" she stared at the man "That's why we need to focus"

"I know…"he said quietly "I'm sorry, it's just that---"

Natalia patted him on the shoulder "it's alright Eric, we understand…" she said kindly.

He stared at them for a while, then smiled softly. "Right, okay then, let's get to work" Eric said, and the two women agreed.

Ryan watched them from a few feet away, the smirk left his face and a sense of guilt was all that was left, man he hated to treat them that way but he knew they would understand when this is all over. That is, if he manages too---he shook his head. _Think positive_, he told himself. _Horatio trusts you on this and you can't let him down_.

He walked away, now was not the time to be weak, he had work to do.

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Horatio entered the house with caution, drawing out his gun he looked around for any signs of suspicious movements. "Kyle? Julia?" he called out, going to the rooms.

Hearing a sudden movement he pointed his gun immediately and found out it was his won son pointing a gun back at him.

"Dad" Kyle said in a low tone, lowering his gun while Horatio did the same.

"It's alright son, it's okay" he said slowly.

Julia appeared from somewhere "Horatio" she said, her voice a mixture of anxiety, fear and relief "We didn't think we'd see you again."

There was a moment of pause. Julia was the first to break the silence.

"We did just as you told us to do, we waited, and now we're leaving" she said.

"I need more time, Julia"

Julia shook her head gently "What am I supposed to tell Ron?"

Horatio looked at her "I don't want you to see Ron"

"That man is my husband"

"And that is your problem Julia, I need 4 more hours" he said, seriously.

"Mom" Kyle said, hoping that his mother would listen "let's give him more time"

"Hang on son" Horatio said "I need to talk to your mom alone" he stared at her and walked to a small room, Julia followed.

Once they were in that room he gave her a key. "What's this?" she asked.

"It's a key to a safe place, there's been a change of plan, I want you and Kyle to go there and wait for my call"

Julia stared at him "Where are you gonna go?"

"I'm going underground for a while" he said, waiting to hear her agree to the plan.

"Horatio---"

"It's okay Julia, this will be over soon."

She sighed, looked at horatio then out of the room where she knew Kyle was waiting what became of their talk "okay, we'll wait for you…"

Relief became evident in Horatio's face as he smiled softly "Thank you Julia", he walked out of the room and saw Kyle waiting there.

"Dad---"

He patted the young man on the back "It's okay son, it'll be fine, you stay with your mom and wait for me alright?"

Kyle went over and hugged him, Horatio found himself hugging his son back. "Please return to us Dad" he said, voice broken.

"I will son, I promise"

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The first half of the day wasn't even over when the team was called to a crime scene involving a robbery of an armoured van. Eric Delko sighed, this was just what they needed, another case to go with their unsolved ones. He wondered if he was being cursed or something.

When he arrived at the scene it was chaos. A car was on fire, and several others that their owners left in panic, the armoured van in front of them all looking the worst of all. The EMTs beat him about a minute in arriving and were already helping those injured.

"I wondered who I'd be seeing first on the scene" a grinning Frank said as he jumped out of the hummer.

"Frank!" he exclaimed, "Didn't expect I'd be seeing you here so soon" he grinned.

Frank shrugged "Now way I'd be sitting at home when there's so many things to do out here" he said.

"Amen to that" he agreed "So, what do we have?"

"Armed robbery, driver's dead, companion's fighting for his life…witness said three masked men approached the van and it started raining bullets"

The two of them walked to the van, the windows were shattered, the money case empty. Eric eyed the scene closely to find clues that would identify their shooters. He shook his head, only one kind of bullet could do something like this… the fused alloy rounds. His gut clenched as he remembered that it was the last case Horatio worked on.

He saw a clean round stuck in the front of the van, he removed it and placed in the evidence bag. "Got a clean round" he said.

"If we get a match, we get our shooter" Tripp agreed.

"Yup, I'll give it to Calleigh when she gets here" He went to get a view of the inside of the vehicle. "But why kill the driver?" he wondered aloud.

"Fused alloy rounds pierce armour and kill people, and they can't open that door."

"So they needed the keys to get the cash" he said

"Exactly right"

Then he noticed something stuck on the broken window of the driver's seat. Upon closer inspection he noticed it was a piece of epithelial stuck there, he grinned. "Found epithelials on the glass"

"That give us our shooter's identity?" Frank asked as he gently put the skin into a sterile evidence pack.

"Probably, we get a name, we get closer to those bullets." he said triumphantly, looking around for more clues.

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

"_You ready?"_

"_As I'll ever will be…"_

"_You sure you're up to it?"_

_He shrugged "Yeah, I can handle it…"_

"_He gave you the go signal?"_

_He nodded as answer._

"_Alright then…let's get this show on the road"_

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

For the second time that day, another crime scene was brought to the attention of the police, it was a shooting in a parking lot. Natalia came just in time as the victim was being carried to the ambulance.

"Hey, can you tell me---" she froze to find it was Kevin Callwell in that gurney, having difficulty in breathing. The side of his coat drenched in his blood. "Oh my God" she gasped.

"Mr. Callwell" she called his name, stepping inside the ambulance as well. "What happened?"

The agent woke up a bit and tried to focus on her "The bastard…" he said weakly.

"Who did this Mr. Callwell?" she asked, hoping not hear the answer she was dreading. "Tell me"

He pulled her closer and whispered to her "Ryan Wolfe"

**-TBC?-**

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

That certainly didn't end the way I wanted, but hey, chapter 3 is up! I'm not sure if you'll like me after what I did to Ryan, but please review for me? I'm still open for ideas here. XD


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the CSI Miami characters. They belong to the producers but I am a big fan.

**Show: **CSI Miami

**Rating: k+**

**A/N: **Again and Again thank you for all the readers of this fic! I love you guys, you know that!

Okay, sorry this took a while, I was on vacation somewhere and just didn't have enough time to encode this, anyway, I've been thinking and I wanted to put some ryan on the last chapter so I'm replacing it with this, hope you guys don't mind…I didn't change much, just a few minor details, and I'll be posting chapter 5 soon too!

On with the chappie!

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

CHAPTER FOUR:

"_Who did this Mr. Callwell?" Natalia asked quietly, praying not hear the answer she was dreading "Who shot you? Tell me…"_

_He pulled her closer and whispered to her "Ryan Wolfe"_

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

After that Natalia got off the ambulance to process the scene as the medics rushed to save the injured man, she went to the crime scene, but couldn't concentrate on what she was doing.

His words echoed on her mind_…"Ryan Wolfe"_. She can't…don't want to believe it. How could someone as nice as Ryan Wolfe be able to do something like this? There has to be an explanation.

Eric and Calleigh arrived with Frank 30 minutes later, and Ryan was not with them, making Natalia more anxious. They

went up to her and noticed she barely started processing.

"Natalia? Is there something wrong?" Calleigh asked, approaching her.

Natalia kept quiet, she didn't know how to break the news to them. Ryan was already on bad terms with the two, but she never really believed that Ryan was capable of doing something like this, not to the people she knew he cared about.

Eric realized something was wrong "Talk to us Natalia" he said.

She raised her head "I came here just in time as the victim was carried over to the ambulance…" she began in a soft voice.

Eric, Calleigh and Frank listened intently as she took a deep breath and went on.

"The victim was Kevin Callwell…."

"What?" Eric exclaimed with a frown "Kevin Callwell? The ATF agent?"

"Did he get a look at his shooter?" Calleigh asked, trying to drown the tension that was starting to build up. Frank looked on.

"Ryan…" she said slowly.

"Ryan?" Calleigh looked at her for a while, then her eyes widened "Oh God…" she whispered.

"What?" Eric was a bit slow on the uptake, looking at them "What about Wolfe?"

"Eric…Ryan Wolfe is the shooter"

Eric was dumbfounded by this news "What?" he said in a tone he rarely used, which was a mixture of awe and disbelief "Wolfe did this?"

"The evidence doesn't tell us anything yet, but that is what agent Callwell said"

Then there's a chance Ryan is only being framed for this?" Calleigh said hopefully

"I doubt that" Eric said suddenly, after the initial shock had gone in he was suddenly looking very angry it was scary. "Wolfe finally decided to show us his true nature"

"Eric--"

"I knew he had something to do with Horatio's death, I knew he's connected to all of it! But I couldn't pin him on anything because I didn't want to believe it! But now---"

"You still don't want to" Calleigh said looking at him directly. "Calm down Eric, we need to get the reason behind all this"

"I know…it's just that…" Eric let out a frustrated growl. "He was just with us Calleigh! He was with us a few hours ago!" he sighed.

"We're gonna find him…" she assured him "Then we'll know why…"

"Damn right we are" he said angrily. "And when we do, he'd better be ready for what's in store for him…"

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

Ryan Wolfe checked his watch, by now probably the whole team knew what he did and was looking for him, they'd probably sent a BOLO for him. He laughed sarcastically, in all those years of looking for criminals running from the law he never thought there would be a day he would do just the same.

He left his apartment that morning with a good days of clothes with him, never know when you needed to change a dirty outfit, the thought of leaving his house for a few days and wait for dust and other god knows what other things make his house filthy was enough to make his OCD go berserk, but he forced it to keep quiet as he drove his car, he had to keep out of sight until the proper time, other wise everything that he worked for will be ruined. Horatio agreed that it would be the best for it to work out, and constantly reminded him that he should be careful as his task wasn't going to be as easy, Ryan thank and assured him that it was going to do just that, he smiled unconsciously at the fact that Horatio was the closest thing he ever got to a father, not that the man knew, and Ryan found his CSI family the closest thing to a real family he ever had, he was thankful that he met all of them, and what he was going to do, he might hurt them, but he prayed that they understand why he did when this is over. He sighed, he was thinking too much again.

He laughed as he remembered something out of a movie he saw on TV last night…

_What will come will come, and we'll have to meet it when it did_… and he thought, it makes perfect sense.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

Ron Saris's white car was parked deep in a run down construction site somewhere in Miami, and the man was standing there waiting. After a while another vehicle pulled up next to his…

Four men came out of the Blue van, all muscle-bound and wearing gang clothes. They approached Ron.

"The crypt kings" Ron began with a grin "how you doing fellas…you're all very scary…very scary…you got all the bullets right?" he watched as the four approached him.

The crypt king with blonde hair stood in front of him "Money first my friend…" he said.

"I'm gonna need all the rounds…all those that Ortega sold you guys last month"

"Yeah, minus what we used in today's heist…armoured car job downtown." The man replied. "Tell you what, for you, I'll give you eight bucks a round" he said as Ron started to open the white suitcase "What you gonna do with it anyway?"

"I've done the math, and here it is okay?" he showed the money inside the case, significantly less in amount than when it was first given to him "To the penny, double pay" he handed the case to the man.

The man handed the case to his companion who took it and brought it back to their van. He looked back at Ron "I guess we got stones for working this deal on broad daylight"

"With Caine dead, I don't think so. This'll be like the wild, wild west" he replied "We're all gonna get rich…me first" then he looked at the men who were bringing the bullets out of the back of the van "Come on, come on! Get your guys going, I got two more drop-offs to make in the hour"

While the men were busy loading the boxes of bullets into Saris's car, nobody even noticed the other vehicle that was parked there, cleverly hidden amongst the metals. Inside was Yelina, watching the scene.

After the boxes were loaded into the car she dialled a number "Horatio, connection's been made" she grinned in satisfaction.

"Thank you, Yelina" the redhead's voice said.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I, am going to end this" with a click, the call was ended.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

Manny Ortega watched the news with intense interest, it showed a man named Ryan Wolfe, a former patrole officer and a present CSI officer, wanted of the crime murder of Horatio Caine and attempted murder of ATF agent Kevin Callwell, the man was currently loose in Miami. He stared at the face of the young man with interest.

"What are you watching boss?" one of his man asked, then he saw Wolfe's face in the news. "Him? wanted?"

"You know him?" Ortega asked.

The man shook his head "I got into trouble with him back when he was in patrol. Always knew was bound to do something like that" he said.

"Really…" his interest with the boy growing. "I think I want a meeting with Mr. Wolfe here…"

"I heard Saris's men are after him too…"

"Then we'll have to beat him won't we? Bring me this man Fred…I have an offer he can't refuse…" he smiled, Fred knew when his boss had spoken, all that was left is to obey him.

Fred went on his way…and as he did he asked grinned, it was a reunion with Ryan Wolfe after years.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

Eric Delko had been locked up in a space inside the lab all afternoon, while Calleigh had just finished investigating the rounds in the robbery from that morning while Natalia was running the DNA he found on the glass. He had been trying to contact Ryan ever since the shooting, but everything went directly to voice mail, and he growled and decided to give up calling him.

"Damn it Wolfe, how the hell are we supposed to know why if you won't talk to us…" he muttered angrily.

He tried checking on what the man was working on last, he remembered that the brunette was always heading to the computer lab the past days, maybe there was something there what he was up to or even just a clue where he was heading…

_Wow _was one word to put it, even in working on his files Ryan was very neat and orderly. Even Dan Cooper wasn't this neat about the files, and he was the expert on this part of the lab before. He didn't have to go to much trouble of sorting everything out, Wolfe practically did that for him, all he had to do was check and see what it contained.

After a while of browsing across the past records of the cases he worked on (Really, Wolfe had to keep his own records of Criminals? Talk about weird…and suspicious), files of family records he had no idea where he got, and other random things like drawing maps and even things about architecture, eric shook his head… he never really knew much about the young CSI, true he didn't like him at the start, thinking of him as a replacement for his best friend, but slowly he was able to accept the young man, even become friends with him, but he never got to know anything about Ryan Wolfe, nor did anyone from the team, he was always that reserved fellow working silently on the corner, as long as he got the job right, no one cared, and no one bothered much to know about him. He felt a bit guilty, but this wasn't the time to felt that way, he focused himself…

Then he noticed a file that seemed odd (well, odder than all the rest of the files all together) he opened it to see the file was empty. He frowned, it was in a hidden folder, why put a blank file in a hidden folder? It doesn't make sense.

There had to be something there… and he was going to find out what it is…

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

Ryan made a mental note to talk to the head of the police department when he gets back, he had been through 4 patrole officers in just two hours and they all just let him get away, not even bothering to check inside his car, what kind of a checkpoint were they operating if they do that? it may be an advantage to him, but if they do that to him who knew if they were doing it to other potential criminals as well?

Reaching the farthest place in Miami, he parked his car near the rainforest, it was 4 in the afternoon, he wondered if the team managed to get a hold of Horatio yet, they'll probably still be decoding the files if left, if they see it anyway, but he knew they will, he knew his team mate's abilities, they'll definitely get there, he grinned.

"This is a great place to hide from them don't you think?" a voice suddenly said behind him.

Being alerted that there was someone behind him, Ryan wheeled around, his gun pointing towards that person.

Fred raised his hand "Easy, I'm not a cop…"

But he didn't lower his gun "You?" he said, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Yes, me…" the other said calmly "Didn't expect I'd see you again…" he grinned at him.

"Don't give me that crap" he spat "What are you doing here, Fred?"

"I work for Manny Ortega now…he asked me to find you…" he shrugged.

Ryan tried to keep his face straight. "What does he want?" he eyed Fred closely.

"Oh, I think you already know…what do you say? Shall we go to him, dear brother?"

**-TBC?-**

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

There anyway, please review this replacement, what do you think? Should I just return the former one or is this better? I'll be waiting for a week.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Getting through the Lion's Den

**Disclaimer: **CSI Miami and all its characters belong to the producers and CBS. I own Fred though.

**Show: **CSI Miami

**Rating: k+**

**A/N: **here we go! I told you I'd update soon, thank you for all your reviews. I guess I'm sticking with that new chappie four!

I'm really enjoying this fic and I hope you guys are too!

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"Oh, I think you already know…what do you say? Shall we go to him, dear brother?"

Fred laughed bitterly at the way Ryan reacted to that "Oh, wait…that's right…I'm not your brother anymore…is that it?"

The brunette glared at him "You never were" he said coldly.

He shrugged "Aww…come on, that's a bit harsh… after all, me and my folks did keep you for 2 years…" he said. "And we even bonded those times didn't we?"

Ryan shook his head "As your personal slave and accessory to crime…you and your parents used me in your modus operandi…" he said.

The man nodded "Quite clever don't you think? Really, it never crossed my mind that you will be like us one day…but here you are, running from the law as well…" he grinned.

He opened his mouth and was about to say that he will never be like that when he remembered that he was on a mission, he glared at Fred… "Don't put me in the same league as you…I didn't worked my ass to finish my college degree and be branded as low-level criminals like you and your parents…" this time he grinned sarcastically at fred.

This seemed to have angered Fred as he growled and pulled Ryan by the collar. He was lifted a few inches off the ground. "You watch what you're saying!"

He kept his face straight and returned the glare to the man holding him. a few moments silence…

"Tch!" Fred said and threw him to the ground, shaking his head "You're lucky the boss is interested in you, otherwise I'd kill you right here, right now…" he said. He had a feeling that threat was very serious.

Ryan picked himself up and dusted himself "Hey, you and your boss were the one who asked for me" he reminded.

"Whatever…"Fred started to walk away after a glance at him, a look that plainly said _"Come with me, or else…"_

Knowing that it was his cue, Ryan followed… he smiled despite of himself… _Right then H, I do what I can over here…you get 'em over there…_

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

Eric spent the past hour trying to decode the curious file he found in Ryan's work, by far still unsuccessful in trying to decode it. He frowned, Wolfe was giving him so much of a hard time. He asked Tripp if he there was any sign of the man yet but all he got was a "No"

He sighed… _H, what would you do at a time like this?_

He stared at the blank file once more and he remembered something, a file program Ryan was using in an earlier case file…the said program was kind of tricky to access but it was worth a shot.

…

…

After a while, he was staring in the monitor blankly. The program worked and he was able to see the message in the blank file…

**Parking Lot, H will wait.**

Now he just looked confused, what the hell was Wolfe playing at? Leaving a message like this? Is this another trick and the man was waiting for an opportunity to shoot them as well? He clenched his fist… but there was a feeling in his gut that told him this was serious…

The question was…should he trust his intuition or not?

Half an hour later Eric Delko made his way to the location in the massage. Until the last minute he wasn't sure what he should do, but ended up with him going there trusting on the fact that he there was something in him that believed that Ryan Wolfe wasn't doing what he did without any reason…and this was his chance to prove that.

Driving up to the floor and exact place stated in Wolfe's file Eric stopped the hummer silently. He drew his gun least it was a trap and Ryan did send them a trap message.

"You can put that down Eric…its only me" a calm voice said behind him, Eric's eyes widened.

There behind him, stood Horatio Caine, very much alive. For a while he stood there stunned, unsure what he was going to say.

When he did, he whispered hoarsely "H, What's going on?" he stared at the man in front of him and knew this was no hallucination.

"It was the only way I can work on disposing the alloy rounds without being held back by the people who want me dead…" he explained.

Eric was drowning hid words…looking hurt "Why Wolfe? Why didn't you come to me?" he asked in a low tone.

"Eric you were the obvious choice… I can't risk this plan failing…it still might…I don't want that for you…" the redhead said simply.

The Cuban nodded, still looking hurt but relieved at the news he received. Then he remembered something "Everything is part of the plan? What about Wolfe shooting Callwell?" he asked.

"Yes, it was to get Ortega interested… so we may be able to stop his operation once and for all…"

Eric nodded "What about the ones sold to the gangs in Miami?"

"Its being taken care of by Ron saris…" Horatio said.

"Ron Saris?"

"It was driven by money…" the man said. "We should be able to have a hold on him when he is done…"

Eric didn't understand that fully, but trust that Horatio knew what he was doing. He had a lot of questions right about now, but knew better than to ask "What about Wolfe?"

"Right now Mr. Wolfe is doing what he must to bring us to Ortega, he should contact us when the coast is clear…"

He frowned "I'll ask Frank to denounce the BOLO for him---" then realized that he couldn't do that least Manny Ortega and his men might become suspicious"

"That's right…"Horatio said "All we can do now is finish our end of the case."

He just stared, knowing he was right "Well, what can we do to help?"

"We figure out who robbed the armoured van earlier…Eric, the traffic light by the scene, I want you to look at it for clues…tell Calleigh to check the rounds…"

"Will do…" he said "But what are you going to do H?"

"For the time being I will be out of sight, I want to hear from you as soon as possible, alright?" he looked at Eric directly.

Eric nodded and after another moment of silence they said goodbye and went their separate ways… if there was anything that he should be happy about, it was that things were slowly starting to make sense now… well, there were still things left to be answered but he was just happy to know that Horatio was alive and Ryan was not a criminal. Though he was a bit curious what he was doing, he knew the best way to help him was to finish the case.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

Eric came back to HQ and told Calleigh the news, the blonde girl was relieved to hear that Horatio was alive but didn't understand why he had to actually stage his death just to get the alloy rounds out of circulation.

"It does make sense in some point" Eric told her "The gangs that has the rounds are looking for him, Saris wants him dead too… the only way to work without worrying is make people believe he was dead…"

She nodded "I can't believe they even faked the attempted murder or Callwell…Ryan is gonna have to answer to a lot when he gets back" she said in a voice with slight awe.

Eric merely nodded before looking at her "Any news on the round you got from the robbery?" he asked.

"Its confirmed to be fused alloy rounds, and our only hope of identifying the culprits is by the Epithelials found on the glass…hopefully Natalia can give us a match…"

In the meantime they were checking the streetlight that caused the van to stop. They concluded that it came form a device that can alter changes in electronic devices by a mile radius handled by emergency personnels.

And they traced the device to find out it belonged to the ATF agent Jake Berkley. Calleigh sighed at the sight of the name of the man in the computer but didn't say anything. Eric noticed that but chose to remain silent.

After a while Jake was sitting across the interrogation room with Calleigh in front of him.

"It's been a while" Calleigh greeted.

Jake stared at her for a while, rubbing his index finger and thumb together before the words "I'm sorry" slip out of him. "Just disappearing like that, I had to go off the grid"

The blonde girl kept a smile "Is that a reason to not pick up the phone?"

"I'm sorry, the crypt kings were becoming suspicious and I had to prove them something…"

"Yeah, I figured as much" she hesitated "An infrared traffic device was used today in an ambushed car robbery…"

"What does it have to do with me?"

"We traced the device back to you…" she looked at him seriously.

Jake sighed "The bikers took it from me…"

She shook her head "The crypt kings came to you for this, well we needed your help…"

"That may take some time…"

"We don't have the time" she said immediately.

"What do you want me to do?"

"How far undercover are you?"

the man looked at her tensely "What are you implying?"

"Exactly what you think I'm implying" she replied.

Jake stared at her and she stare back, silence prevailed before the ATF agent sighed and withdrew his gaze "I'll see what I can find out" he said and stood up from his chair. Calleigh watched him as he made hi way out of the room.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

Awhile later Natalia and Valera were checking the epithelials from the crime scene and were running it through the databases hoping to find a match, after a while they had a match.

"Todd Keener" Natalia said, with a smile. "Age 22, Gang affiliations, the crypt kings."

"Hold on the crypt kings?" Valera said "That's not part of Ortega's gang…"

With a frown Natalia turned to her "That means this bullets are everywhere…" they stared at each other worriedly.

Soon enough, Eric Delko stood in front of the interrogation room with a hard looking Todd Keener in front of him. he was glaring at Eric in a way that he knew the man was definitely guilty.

"Mr. Keener" he began "We have evidence that placed you in an armed robbery early today"

The young man glared at him some more and looked down on the table, hands interlaced. He didn't say anything.

So Eric spoke for him "That means we got you for felony murder…"

The man looked at him "I didn't shoot nobody" he said.

"Then tell us who did" he challenged.

"I don't rat out on my boys either"

"Cooperative aren't we?" he stared at the man, but he looked serious about not talking any further.

"Heh, I guess we'll both be losers then…" he retorted.

Eric shook his head, then grinned a bit, signalling to the officer besides Keener "Take him" he said.

Keener stood up "Cops, you just don't get it. You're on the short end. Gangs got all the ammo. You're nothing but ducks in the pond"

He chose to ignore that "Just take him out of here" the officer pulled the man out.

Walking out Eric knew in an instant Horatio was there. He walked towards him without arousing any attention "These bullets are everywhere H, what are we gonna do?"

"We're working on it" he said, in before Eric could turn, he was gone.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXX-**

Ryan focused on the road on their way to Manny Ortega's hideout, trying to remember how to get in or out. But it was impossible, they went though to many shortcuts even someone like him with an OCD can't memorize it. He was beginning to feel worried, but he kept it to himself as he kept his face hard.

Fred laughed at him "Still got that crazy habits of yours huh?" he said "Ma and Pa always thought you were out of your rocker"

He didn't say anything. Well, not that he couldn't, he just didn't want to say anything. And his not paying attention angered Fred "What you think you're too good to talk to me now?" he growled behind the wheel.

"Geez, don't you ever shut up, Fred?"

The man looked at him darkly. "You're lucky I'm not shutting you up yet…but I will soon enough"

He didn't like that sentence, but there was no turning back now, and there was nowhere for him to turn but ahead.

**-TBC?-**

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

there! What do you think? The scenes from the original episode have been jumbled to fit this story. you're not confused or anything right? If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I'll update again soon, but for now, please read and review this chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **Getting through the Lion's Den

**Disclaimer: **CSI Miami and all its characters belong to the producers and CBS. I own Fred though.

**Show: **CSI Miami

**Rating: k+**

**A/N: sorry for not updating earlier, there's been a problem with my account and I couldn't upload anything.**.

And to add to that I might be losing my touch, tsk,, God help me.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

**CHAPTER 6:**

Kevin Callwell stifled a sigh as he relaxed into his hospital bed, Damn it, the graze in his side may not be life-threatening, but it was still a hell lot painful. He should've taken that dose of morphine the doctor prescribed after all.

He wondered if the CSI boy Ryan Wolfe got in touch with Manny Ortega yet, that was the main reason he let himself get shot—almost anyways. He almost thought Horatio Caine was crazy when he told him what he was planning to do.

"_From inside? Are you mad? How are you going to get inside Manny Ortega's own warehouse?"_

_Horatio looked at him "I need you for that to happen"_

_He frowned "you mean you want me to go undercover?"_

"_I need you to be shot…" horatio said, straight to the point._

"_What?" now he just knew that the redhead was crazy. "Horatio, do you know what you're saying here?"_

"_Yes, sir…" Ryan Wolfe came forward, Kevin already knew who he was of course. Now he was eyeing the young man curiously._

"_So I believe you have everything planned out then?" he sighed, really, these CSI men were better agents than most of the people he had in his office._

_Ryan smiled softly. "Yes…" then he started to explain what they were going to do, his role was to get shot—of course not really shot, that would make the young man end up wanted and would hopefully make Ortega interested in him…once he was inside, he would give in the location to the team and hopefully put a stop to Ortega once and for all._

_Kevin listened intently until he was done, and by that time he was convinced that Horatio and his CSI were both out of their minds. He shook his head "Are you both aware what you are planning to do?" he asked._

_Ryan nodded "it's our best shot right now" he said determinedly._

_The ATF agent stared at Horatio now "Are you sure about this?"_

_Horatio looked back at him "Mr. Wolfe seems determined to do this…" was his reply._

"_Sure I am" Ryan said "It'll get us free of those alloy rounds once and for all right? What's bad a little undercover work could do? Besides, most of the team think I'm already evil so I don't think it'll be hard to convince them…"_

_Kevin shook his head "Your CSIs are as crazy as you Horatio…"_

_The redhead lieutenant merely gave a small smile. Ryan looked at him and he sighed. "I'm not sure about this, but I have faith in the two of you…fine then…let's do it"_

So now, here he was after his part, lying in the hospital with a wounded side. But of course he was not planning to stay here for any longer, he wanted to see first hand if those two had actually succeeded. He didn't let himself get shot just for a backfire plan after all.

"I see that the shot wasn't enough to make you rest…" a voice said making him turned as he grinned and let the person by the door enter his room. "I shouldn't worry that you would make a full recovery then…"

"Are you kidding? A shot like that?" he laughed while Horatio Caine stood by his bed "Not a chance, being an ATF agent I've been shot more times than you can imagine…" he said confidently.

The redhead could only smile, nodding at the man.

"So, what happened to the kid?" he asked in a low tone, so only horatio could hear. No one was supposed to know that his shooting was completely staged.

Horatio stared at him "we should hear from him soon enough…" he replied, although the truth was he was hoping to hear from the young man soon, it was a good two hours since he heard from Ryan, and that was when he was telling horatio that he would be heading to the glades.

"That kid's got guts you know…" he said, shaking his head "Not easy sneaking into enemy territory, he might end up dead before he could even get the chance to do what he's set out to do…"

Of course there was no need for him to stress that, Horatio knew all about it, and it was that very same reason he was reluctant to go on with it when he first mentioned it to Ryan. The young man's courage however was something else, the lieutenant found himself trusting that Ryan _could_ do it. He sighed, he had always trusted his intuition in making most decisions, and he hoped that this time is no different.

"Anyway…" Kevin Callwell said, bringing Horatio's attention back to him. "I'm not going to waste my time lying here, so the minute I get out I want you to let me in on the investigation of the rounds, you got that?"

He smiled and understood perfectly, "Of course, I owe you everything after helping me with this case…"

"That makes the two of us then" the men nodded in agreement, both consumed in their own thoughts.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

Ryan Wolfe could only count the hours they have been driving around, giving up on memorizing the route they had taken, of course after an hour he realized that Fred had been driving around in circles to prevent exactly what he was trying to do. In his mental record he noted that they have been driving for three hours now, he calculated that they have to stop pretty soon. He had to brace himself when that happens.

Fred laughed suddenly from behind the wheel. "You're getting kinda jumpy Ryan…not scared now, are ya?"

"Don't be stupid Fred…" he retorted.

"Ah, well…you'll find out your fate soon enough, were almost there now…" the man said staring ahead…Ryan followed his gaze.

It was a big warehouse… almost outside of Miami's boundaries… _This is where Manny Ortega is hiding_…he thought….he had accomplished the first step in his mission.

Fred manuevered the car and they stopped…by this time there was a sinister grin on the man's face "Here we are…your gateway to hell…" he said, "The boss should be inside…"

Hesitation flickered through his mind, what if this had been a trap? What if Fred was actually assigned to kill him? it would be like walking straight into a trap, and even though he had his gun the odds were still not good.

"What's the matter, Not chickening out now, are you?" the man laughed, watching him as he got out of the car.

Ryan merely glared at him, and throwing all his uncertainties in the wind he shrugged and walked towards the warehouse, whatever is waiting for him inside, he'll just have to figure out on his own. Fred followed him, hands in his pockets, wearing that amused grin on his face…

He was holding his breath when he opened the doors, almost expecting a bullet to come speeding in his direction… his hand closed tighter on the handle of his gun…looked around cautiously.

"Now, Now…put that gun down Mr. Wolfe…You don't want to accidentally shoot yourself don't you?"

He froze as he heard the voice from the end of the room, but he kept calm as he waited patiently for the man to approach…

"Ryan Wolfe…" Manny Ortega said, cross-armed and with a smile on his face. "I must admit I never thought I would see you here…thank you for accepting my request…"

Ryan did not lower his gun "Why did you call me here?" he asked.

"I'm willing to offer my hand, I know the Miami Dade are looking for you…let's say I'm willing to help you…"

He stared at the man and didn't say anything. So, the man took the liberty to continue talking. "I'll say it…I was quite impressed with what the news have been saying about you, Mr. Wolfe…you killed your boss, killed the man who helped you kill him? interesting, interesting indeed…"

He frowned, okay…he knew everything was going along quite well, but that didn't kept him from thinking that there was a loose screw somewhere in Ortega's brain. He kept his voice neutral though. "I don't need help"

Fred, who was standing right behind him, hissed like an angry cat and he was sure he felt him going for his gun, but the bullet dealer raised his hand to stop him, not even a hint of annoyance in his face, rather good luck for the brunette. "Now, Don't be hasty, I'm offering you a good deal. In fact I'm willing to let you use my famous fused alloy rounds…"

Ryan threw him a sceptical look.

"That is, of course…after I've seen that you really are on our side…"

Of course, this was one of the things ryan knew he was going to say. He looked at Ortega in the eye and said "What do you want me to do?" he said, calm and ready.

Manny Ortega smiled and beckoned him to follow, Ryan followed suit, and Fred scowling, glared after them.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

Eric Delko was not at all a patient man, true, he was easily the cop who would always barge in at a scene and shout the words "Freeze! Miami Dade PD!" and would return fire immediately when the crooks would open fire.

Today makes no difference, the cuban was still impatient, and was particularly pissed because of what had been revealed yesterday between him and H, sure he could understand that Horatio was thinking about what would be best, but that doesn't change the fact that he wasn't even given the chance to know what the plan was, and for him, that was almost the same as lying.

Eric sighed staring at his desk, the worst part of all this is, now they didn't even have a crime scene to go through, and just waiting here was just so damn frustrating! Wolfe was taking too long to contact them and they may not get along well, save the fact that Eric just a few days ago wanted to strangle the younger man to death, but now he was feeling anxious for him, sure he may be able to adapt to situations better than him, the impatient and impetuous one would, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a breaking point.

"Eric" Calleigh entered, and like him, she was looking rather impatient and tired, "Any contact yet?" she asked.

He shook his head, and she sighed, taking a seat in front of him "Is there nothing we can do but wait?" she said, exasperated.

Before any of them can speak, Eric's phone ringing had been the answer they could have been waiting for.

"Delko"

The frown on Eric's face turned deeper and deeper and Calleigh thought it would turn permanent as he watched Eric listen to the person on the other line. She waited as the call was ended and went to him "who was it?"

Eric stared at his phone for a while more then turned to her "We need to move"

"What?"

"I'll explain on the way…"

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXX**-

When they arrived at the scene, it was one like one big shooting arena, bullets were flying everywhere. Eric's first thoughts were, how did a bank robbery turn out to look like something close to a war?

Frank was already there of course, hiding behind his patrol car, looking for a clean shot. "Damn it" he growled as a bullet nearly grazed his head.

Eric and Calleigh went beside him "Frank? What's the status?"

"Not good, as you can plainly see…We so close to being outnumbered by these bastards…" he breathed and let Eric and Calleigh join in.

Eric looked around to see if H was in here somewhere, overlooking the situation. but in the chaos that was everywhere he should have known it was rather impossible.

And impossible was the understatement of the day.

"What the fuck—is that Wolfe?" Frank said loudly, so Eric and Calleigh heard him and turned to the direction he was pointing at.

Alas, there standing was unmistakeably Ryan Wolfe, Eric's first move was to run straight at him, but stopped, granted because there was a gun pointed at him.

"What the hell are you doing Wolfe?!" he shouted, as everything seemed to freeze around Frank, Calleigh, ryan and Eric.

The man looked at him blankly, there wasn't even a single expression in his face when he pulled the trigger and whispered "Good bye, Delko"

Eric wasn't given a chance to react when he felt the bullet hit him, and he staggered back.

"ERIC!!!"

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

Ahaha…I'm literally losing it. but I'm not going to go bipolar yet, I need to finish this…I need to…hahaha…

Sorry, I'm rambling, here's your update, it was very crappy and it might make you want to throw the pc out the window, but don't, that's expensive... I'll update as soon as I feel better okay?

For now, your reviews are like my medicine, keep them coming!


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